Letter to the NY TIMES Magazine Editor RE: Micheal Sokolove's "The Fast Life of Oscar Pistorius" January 22, 2012

The author noted the term "mutant" as a descriptor of Pistorius.  Notwithstanding the pop-culture negative connotations, it is likely the best word to describe not only Pistorius, but also most superstar athletes today.  Current efforts in trying to understand the underlying genetics of sports will eventually lead us to embrace organized sports as unfair matchups between individuals fundamentally unequal in their biology:   Not to discount the incredible investments in blood sweat and tears throughout their endless hours of training, but the sooner we appreciate that nature has provided our current crop of superstars with often incredible unfair biological advantages, creating an already absurdly uneven playing field, the sooner we will accept artificially enabled but nevertheless gifted athletes like Pistorius onto that same field.

Dov Greenbaum JD PhD
Mark Gerstein PhD

---

Unpublished Letter to the Editor

NY Times Magazine Micheal Sokolove's "The Fast Life of Oscar Pistorius"

January 22, 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/magazine/oscar-pistorius.html?pagewanted=all